So to mark the occasion here’s a list of the top 10 craziest on-pitch moments world football has to offer.

A celebration of Rene Higuita crazy career

If I said to you the name Rene Higuita, what would your first thought be? The scorpion kick. His decision to perform such a manoeuvre against England back in 1985 has now gone down as one of football’s most iconic tricks.

Although the Columbian wasn’t a one-trick pony, many times he was crazy enough to think he was an outfield player skilfully rounding a couple of players at a time, charging towards the centre of the pitch. He was also a mean free-kick taker scoring over 30 goals in his career. He simply has to go down as the craziest goalkeeper the football planet has ever seen.

Back in April 2005, Newcastle hosted Aston Villa in a Premier League fixture that saw one of the most bizarre antics Premier League football has ever seen.

Former Newcastle teammates Lee Bowyer and Kieron Dyer decided on swapping their football boots for boxing gloves. The duo flexed their muscles and after a mean right hook from Bowyer to the temple of Dyer, ref Gareth Barry split the fight up. Soon after the real referee got involved and both were sent off.

France captain Zidane became headline news after the 2006 world cup final, but for all the wrong reason. After 110 minutes of play the scores were level, then out of the blue Zidane head-butted Italian defender Marco Materazzi and was rightly sent off straight away. Italy then went onto win on penalties and French fans blamed the loss on Zidane’s antics.

The incident threatened to put a cloud over Zidane’s illustrious career, but soon people remember the brilliance of the man and he’s still highly regard on planet football.

Since, a five-metre high statue of Zinedine Zidane's famous headbutt on Marco Materazzi has been unveiled in Paris.

Football fans are used to seeing animals invade football games, whether it’s pigeons on crossbars or squirrels scuttling across the grass none were to expect what happened last February.

During Liverpool’s home game against Tottenham, Kenny Dalglish had made an unexpected substitution when he brought on a tabby cat. The cat showed great agility and speed but couldn’t maneuverer his way past the stewards who soon capture the cat, taking him away and letting the game continue.

Since the incident, the ‘Anfield Cat’ has become quite the sensation with a parody Twitter account that currently has over 70,000 followers.

The cry for goal-line technology has never been louder and with that being said, back in 2008 football witnessed one the most horrific refereeing decision ever.

Thirteen minutes into a clash between Reading and Watford at Vicarage Road, Reading whipped in a corner around into the penalty box before the ball was smashed against the bar. As the ball cannoned off the woodwork, a curious whistle sounded. Linesman Nigel Bannister flagged for a goal. From his view, the Watford defence had scored an own goal before Reading struck the frame.

Realisation soon set in when fans didn’t cheer and no arms flailed in celebration. Yet referee Stuart Attwell still ordered the goal to stand in a game that would eventually finish 2-2.

It’s as simple as this, you just don’t mess with Roy Keane, and here’s why.

Back in 1997 one man was brave enough to take on Roy Keane. He goes by the name of Alf-Inge Haaland. It was Derby day in Manchester and if the competition wasn’t fierce enough, Haaland decided to rashly tackle Roy Keane in a challenge that would end Keane’s season.

However, instead of putting things to bed, Keane was plotting his revenge on Haaland and boy did he get it. In 2001 the Irishmen lunged towards his enemy leaving the Manchester City player tumbling towards the floor in horrific fashion.

Back to the World Cup and this time it was the turn of Dutchmen Nigel De Jong to deliver a ridiculous tackle. Spain is one of the international elite teams and few knew how to beat their beautiful style of tika-taka football, but De Jong was willing to try a new method, one which no other player had tried before.

After taking inspiration from Jackie Chan, De Jong decided to show his moves on football’s biggest stage by kung-fu kicking Spain’s Xabi Alonso in the chest.

Unfortunately these tactics failed to work with the player getting sent off and Spain going on to win 1-0.

Imagine your club were battling against relegation rivals and you take possession of the ball and sportingly launch it into the gloves of the opposition's keeper. Then Imagine if you accidentally scored from that shot.

This is exactly what happened to Brann midfielder Erik Mjelde, whose harmless pass took a wicked bounce and floated over Lillestrom's Stefan Logi Magnusson.

Brann then allowed Lillestrom forward Bjorn Bergmann to reduce the deficit, by standing still whilst the other team went through to score.

Before the end of October 2002, football's highest score line remained Arbroath's 36-0 win over Bon Accord in 1885. This incredible score lasted 117 years as the highest ever, but two teams from Madagascar eventually broke it in 2002.

Stade Olympique l'Emyrne were fighting for the national championship in a four-team playoff. However, things went against them and this led to one of the craziest events in football history.

Lining up against already crowned champions AS Adema, the SOE players decided to take things into their own hands a very bold statement by losing 149-0.

SOE players and staff were aggrieved after a dubious penalty decision in the previous game had denied them the chance to win the title and AS Adema sat back and watched as SOE scored own goal after own goal.

It was the year of 2010 and the Asian Games saw Qatar U-23's play Uzbekistan's U-23's in the Round of 16. The game was deadlocked at 0-0 after 90 minutes, and it had moved into extra time.

With just 50 seconds gone in extra time football fans were gifted with one of the best and most baffling bloopers of all time when Fahad Khalfan of Qatar missed an open goal. Eight minutes later and the Uzbeks took the lead to win the game 1-0.

DISCLAIMER: This article has been written by a member of the GiveMeSport Writing Academy and does not represent the views of GiveMeSport.com or SportsNewMedia. The views and opinions expressed are solely that of the author credited at the top of this article. GiveMeSport.com and SportsNewMedia do not take any responsibility for the content of its contributors.

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DISCLAIMER

This article has been written by a member of the GiveMeSport Writing Academy and does not represent the views of
GiveMeSport.com or SportsNewMedia. The views and opinions expressed are solely that of the author credited at the top of this article.
GiveMeSport.com and SportsNewMedia do not take any responsibility for the content of its contributors.

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